RAYNALGuillaume Thomas François (1713-1796), was born on 12th April 1713 in the province of Rouergue, and was educated at Pézenas by the Jesuits. He took orders, and, going to Paris, did parish work; but he left the priesthood (being indeed deprived for misconduct) and betaking himself to literature soon became one of the minor members of the philosophe coterie. He did not a little journalism and bookmaking of divers kinds; but his name would be entirely forgotten were it not for the Histoire philosophique et politique des Établissements et du Commerce des Européens dans les Deux Indes. This book is not, and indeed was not in its own day, of any substantive value as a book of reference on its nominal subject; but it exercised considerable influence: it was exceedingly characteristic of the period and society which produced it, and passages of it are still worth reading. The secret of its merits and its faults is to be found in the manner of its composition. Raynal himself wrote but a small part of it, and he took not the slightest pains to make it a homogeneous work. But he borrowed from books and he begged from his own friends all manner of diatribes against superstition and tyranny, often illustrated by lively anecdotes and eloquent tirades. Grimm assigns a full third of the book to Diderot, which is probably an exaggeration, but that Diderot had a great hand in it no judge of style can doubt. It was published in 1772, and brought the author many compliments, even from men like Gibbon, who should have known better. A new edition in 1780 was even bolder. It was condemned and burned (29th May 1781), and the author had to fly the country. He returned just before the Revolution, but having apparently a natural tendency to opposition he became a strong Royalist. He ...